1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic icemaker provided in a refrigerator that is arranged to repeatedly and automatically make ice.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an automatic icemaker supplies water to an ice tray to make ice, and then drops the ice made within the ice tray into an ice reservoir arranged under the ice tray by means of an ice discharge device. The ice discharge device is arranged to drop the ice in the ice tray into the ice reservoir by turning over the ice tray or scraping out the ice from the ice tray by an ice discharge lever, for example. Then, steps of supplying water, ice making, and discharging ice are repeated.
The above automatic icemaker is provided with an ice level detection device for detecting that the ice level in the ice reservoir is at a predetermined level (typically, a level close to a full level) or higher. When the ice level is detected to be the predetermined level or higher by the ice level detection device, discharging ice is stopped thereafter.
The ice level detection device typically includes a swing arm arranged to swing or pivotally move around a predetermined axis, an actuator arranged to drive the swing arm to swing, and a transmission section arranged to transmit the movement of the actuator to the swing arm. When the swing movement of the swing arm is stopped, i.e., the swing arm has become immovable because of the ice in the ice reservoir, the ice level detection device detects that the ice level in the ice reservoir is at the predetermined level or higher.
Conventional ice level detection techniques using swing arms are roughly classified into three types. In the first one, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,456, for example, the first swing arm is provided to swing in a horizontal plane which passes between the ice tray and the ice reservoir around a vertical first axis. In the second technique, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,563, for example, the second swing arm is provided to swing in a vertical plane passing inside the ice reservoir and outside the ice tray, around a horizontal second axis. In the third technique, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,738, for example, the third swing arm is provided to swing along a cylindrical surface which is arranged around a horizontal third axis as a center and passes outside the ice tray and inside the ice reservoir, around that third axis. One of those three techniques is selected in accordance with the layout of the inside of the refrigerator, the specification of the ice reservoir, and the like.
In case of manufacturing an automatic ice maker, however, the arrangement and operation of the swing arm are different among the ice level detection techniques and it is therefore necessary to design and manufacture an ice level detection device depending on the selected ice level detection method. This is uneconomical.